


The Supernova Pirates

by CallSign



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Genre: Action, Action/Adventure, Bounty Hunters, Comedy, Crimes & Criminals, Jedi, Mandalorian, Master & Padawan Relationship(s), Old Republic Era, Other, Pirates, Sith Empire, Sith Pureblood, Smuggling, Space Pirates, Training, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-25 16:02:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22138777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CallSign/pseuds/CallSign
Summary: Have stupid societal conventions ever stopped you from doing what was truly, without a doubt, the right thing to do? Have certain laws or governments ever stopped you from helping others, or saving lives? Have you ever wanted to get back at the scum of the galaxy for all the pain and suffering they've caused? If so, join us. The Supernovas. Sure we may be pirates, but we'll be damned if we're not being a giant pain in the ass of evil. Kill the corrupt, the powerful, the tyrannous. Steal from those who use ill means to profit and give back to those they've harmed. Protect those who can't defend themselves.  We will NEVER tell you to not pull the trigger, swing your saber, or detonate that bomb if it means saving more lives. We don't care about what you've done, who you were, or where you came from. All that matters is that you want to help. So join us and be your own light.
Kudos: 3





	1. D. Captain

_ **Jedi** _

* * *

_"Master?"_

_"Yes, my padawan?"_

_"Where are we going?"_

_"To see the Mayor of Kaadara."_

_"Why?"_

_"Because the council assigned us here."_

_"Why did the council choose us specifically?"_

_"Because they thought we were the ones most capable and available at the moment."_

_"Why didn't they go themselves?"_

_"They have much more pressing matters than parties."_

_"Like?"_

_"Organizing the war effort, planning tactics, maintaining the Order."_

_"Why do the Jedi have to even go to this party?"_

_"We have to maintain good status on Naboo."_

_"So they're sending us because we're less useful than everyone else in the war."_

_"Hush now, we are approaching."_

* * *

D. Captain woke up in a sweat, breathing heavily. Not necessarily a bad dream, he thought. No, just memories he'd rather not relive. He sat up and crossed his legs, closing his eyes. His former master’s words echoing through his head.

 **”Without peace, you become imbalanced, when you are imbalanced, you lose harmony, without harmony, you lose your connection to The Force. Calm yourself, young one.”**

The past is in the past, put it behind you and move forward. 

**”You failed, Padawan”**

_I was young._

**”You disobeyed direct orders again, young Knight.”**

_People were dying._

**_”_ Killing him was not necessary, Master Jedi”**

_He wouldn’t have changed, he was insane._

**”That is NOT the jedi way!”**

Cap opened his eyes, finding himself two feet above the bed. Various items and furniture in his room were floating.

_Ah fuck_

He took in a long breath and exhaled, calming himself. Slowly, the items in the room descended with him. He sighed as he stood up and walked toward the window. This was his waking ritual, staring at the bright lights of Nar Shaddaa, going over his plans for the day. He’d eat whatever he had stolen the day before, gear up, then do his job. It’s been like this for awhile, maybe too long, he thought. He jumped out of his small headquarters. As he fell, he looked up at it, it wasn’t exactly a home, but it was safe and a place to rest. He looked back down at the passing speeders, looking for a place to land and after a few seconds, he spotted a PL-90 luxury speeder in the path of his freefall. The driver looked wealthy, young too, but not too bright though, and didn’t seem like the owner of the vehicle, so it probably was their child, which meant they would be easy enough to fool. He landed on the back of the speeder, knocking it head up like a see-saw, causing the driver to fall out of it. Luckily for him, Cap caught him and pulled him back up.

"HOLY SHIT, ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE?!?!" The kid screamed at him.

"Not particularly no, you will take me to the Duros Sector then promptly forget what happened" D. Captain waved his hand, closing his eyes to concentrate.

"I will take you to the Duros Sector then promptly forget what happened" He sat back down and continued driving.

Cap looked back at where he landed, it wasn't one of his smoother ones. He left two shoe sized dents.

_Shit, I'm getting sloppy. I need to take a break soon. Sorry Kid._

When they neared the Duros Sector, Cap told the kid to stop at the side of the road. At this point it was best to walk into the sector, the citizens there didn't take kindly to anyone wealthy. He raised his hood and started walking. The Duros Sector was the poorest sector of Nar Shaddaa, making it the most dangerous. That unfortunately made it one of the few places in the galaxy that were more or less safe from the Sith Empire and available for refuge, being in Hutt territory and all. So a camp was set up by and for those hiding from the ever expanding Sith threat. Once in awhile though, Hutt mercenaries would try to get rid of them to make room for good economy boosting scoundrels for the Hutts. And it worked for awhile, up until Cap decided to stay there for the time being. That's where he felt The Force was guiding him but....it's been so long, long enough that he's begun to lose faith in it. Maybe the Jedi and Sith were just gifted individuals with special powers. Maybe there was no higher power there at all and he was just crazy. He would be turning 24 now, that would make it 6 years he's been on Nar Shaddaa, helping the refugees. He knew it was good work, but somehow he felt disheartened inside.Is this what was left of his life? This is what The Almighty Force had decided he would be doing? He knew that he wouldn't stop of course, these people needed him. But he always felt that there was something MORE to what he sensed here all those years ago.

"CAP!" A young female voice caught his attention.

As he turned he saw a young Togrutan child running toward him, dressed in tattered robes but she wore a heartwarming smile on her face. 

"Hello little one! You've grown Rahlee." Cap smiled, picking her up.

"You said that yesterday! Did you bring anything for me today?"

"In fact I did" He says, using the force to pull out a small cuboid from his belt, levitating it in front of her.

"Oooooo what is it?" She says reaching for it 

"A small music cube I made, see those tiny dials? If you twist and press them they make different tones. Try it!"

He then watched as she eagerly started to play various sounds with the new toy. While they weren't very cohesive, she was having a blast.

"One day I'll make a song for you Cap!" She smiled at him and laughed.

To be honest, it completely appalled him that this child, after everything she'd been through, could be so happy, warm, and loving _._ He could feel a tear beginning to form under his eye. 

"I'd love it, I'm sure." He smiled, and then, to his surprise, she hugged him.

"Where's your mother?" He asked, rubbing her back.

"At our tent!"

"Off we go then."

As they walked, he was stopped every few minutes or so by a refugee and their family, often asking for money or food, or help with something that broke. This had become normal now, he had become what was known as "The Shadow of the Duros Sector". He was their hero. He would steal food and money from mercenaries as well as dispatch scum who would try to terrorise the poor camp, but he did so quietly. In a manner that the Cartel could not figure out what was happening. All they knew was someone was stopping everyone they sent from getting rid of the refugees. At first they sent more and more mercenaries to deal with it, which was relatively easy enough for Cap to deal with. But soon the Hutts even hired a bunch of mandalorians, to no avail. Finally they hired a few sith inquisitors. All. Futile. Cap had been living there for years at that point and spent most of his time studying the place, learning where things were, as well as enhancing his already brilliant engineering. He placed traps and custom built droids around the camp to protect them, as well as alert him of any trouble. He had time and patience, and to him, that could help a man achieve anything. And so at one point, trying to get rid of the refugees started costing the Hutts more than they thought was worth it, so the paid attacks stopped. Though it was never over, they placed a bounty reward for any group who got rid of them. Which is why every so often, a group of mercenaries would try, but many soon learned to fear the Shadow.

After a long time of walking and helping around, they finally arrived at Rahlee's tent. It was pretty big for a refugee camp tent, it housed two small rooms. One for camp meetings, then another as living quarters for Rahlee and her Mother. A tent of this size was apt though, these two were the ones who started the camp.

"Naahlee? Are you here?" Cap asked as he put the girl down while she opened the tent.

"Captain! Hello! What brings you here today?" A homely voice echoed from the other side of the tent.

As the Captain and the child entered the second room of the tent, Rahlee ran up to her mother, arms outstretched, brandishing the toy he had given her earlier.

"Mother look at what Cap gave me!" She beamed as she started playing random sounds again.

"Oh my! That's wonderful!" Naahlee laughed as she picked her daughter up from the ground.

"What do we say when someone gives us a gift Rahlee?"

"Oh right! Thank you Cap! I love it!" She laughed as she waved the cube at him.

"Its my pleasure little one. Naahlee, can I speak to you?" 

"Of course!" She put her child down and took the toy from her.

"Go play with the other kids, my dear. I don't want you losing the Captain's lovely gift so I'll keep it here okay?"

"Okay mother!" and with that, she ran outside.

"You're raising her wonderfully Naahlee." The Captain nodded as Rahlee left the tent.

"I do my best. Now what is it you wanted to speak to me about? If its the usual, then the new Zabrak family that moved in yesterday broke their generator, Mr.Mentel's speeder engine needs some work, and the Felswoops need some money for medicine. As for threats, there were some drug dealers hanging around a few blocks south of here, I heard a band of mercenaries in the slaving business is grouped up a click northeast from the camp, there's been a few disappearances in the food stock, and the Hutt's bounty for us went up again today."

"I'll save the engineering issues for the end of the day, that's the least of our worries it seems. The Hutt's bounty on us is more unstable than the state of Grandfather Felswoop's mind, and drug dealing is nothing new to the camp, I think the perimeter droids can handle that. I'll also have a few more surveillance droids up and running by the end of the week to investigate your food stock. For now the mercenaries are the biggest issue."

"Thank you Captain, really."

"We've been doing this for years Naahlee, and what do I always say?"

"No need to thank me" She mocked in the best uptight deep voice she could and smiled

"But I always will, all of this-" She walked up to the opening of the tent and revealed the camp, as busy as ever, but happy "-is because of you."

"Don't downplay your efforts in this either, Camp Leader." He sighed. "Though that isn't what I wanted to speak to you about."

"What is it then?" She closed the tent, sensing that the topic may be something people should not see nor hear.

"Your daughter..." He paused, anxious to tell her the news. He could see the worry building up in her eyes now "...she may be force sensitive."

"Oh no...Oh no...Oh no...no no no no." She whispered repeatedly. Worry, fear, and shock, completely evident in her face. She began to tear up.

"And its not just her, there are a few other children here too I've sensed may be force sensitive too. That's why I built these." He removed a pouch of his belt. The same one that the toy he gave to Rahlee came from.

"These are toys I built with my knowledge of The Force. To a non-force sensitive individual they will only ever light up red, blue, and yellow. But to a force-sensitive individual, they will start to light up green too. Now, I'm not sure yet if the children I sensed are truly force sensitive. They might just be connected to it a little, I don't know, I don't have the experience to tell yet. Hence...these." He gestured at the toys he laid out, as he pulled out a data card from the pouch.

"Here is a list of all the children I think may be force sensitive. Give them the toys. I'm sure some of them are and we have to know whom. The Order may come and hopefully...hopefully its just them. We'll figure this out I promise." He puts his hand on her shoulder and she hugs him, crying now.

"Captain, please, please, PLEASE don't let them take her from me." 

"I won't, you have my word." and he pulls a chair for her to rest on.

"I best be off, the sooner the mercenaries are gone, the better. You might also have to prepare more room for any captives I bring back. Everything will be fine, I promise. I haven't failed before Naahlee, and I don't plan to now." 

With those last words, he left the crying mother in the tent to rest and prepare.

_She's strong, she has to be. She will be fine._

Cap crouched, closing his eyes. Concentrating his power, building it. When it reached its peak, he released it. Jumping 4 stories high out of the camp. He never had to do that, it actually was pretty difficult, leaving like that. But it gave the refugees hope and a feeling of safety. Knowing a "Jedi" is there for them. As soon as he reached the apex of his jump, he could already see the camp of the mercenaries. When he landed, he quickly swept into the shadows. Inching his way to the camp, making sure not to be seen. Standard protocol, he's done this a million times before, this is no different. He put on his face mask as he neared the camp. It was a normal mercenary setup. An empty alleyway system converted into a temporary HQ. 

_Time for surveillance._

D. Captain tapped his gauntlet and a few tiny droids flew off his belt.

_Hm, 25 men, not too shabby._

_All armed with blasters...biggest problem here are the three big guys with assault cannons. Even then, not too much of an issue._

_Oh crap, they ARE slave traders. Goddammit. 12 slaves in cages. How'd they even transport them??? I see no speeders or cargo carriers._

_Hmmmm...must be another setup somewhere, this might just be a storage area. I guess they're dealing in town somewhere, probably the Corellian sector._

_Either way, there are slaves trapped, and the mercenaries too near the refugee camp._

_Time for the normal scare tactic. Don't wanna kill or hurt anyone if I don't have to._

He presses a button on his belt.

_Sound resonance and distortion on the drones should be on now._

He starts speaking into his mask softly.

"This is the Shadow of the Duros Sector, leave the slaves, take your arms, leave Duros Sector, never return, and no harm will come to you. Nightmare's promise." The surveillance droids echoed in the shadows of the night.

"No. fucking. way." One of the thugs mutters in disbelief

"The shadow is REAL?!" Another chimes.

"I thought it was a myth?!" 

"Hold your ground men, someone is just probably trying to scare us." The biggest one there commanded

"Y-yeah, Z-Zylas is right! Piss off!"

"You don't s-scare me! I bet I could take you one on one!"

More obscenities followed. Cap sighed.

"Again, this is your final warning." Cap muttered again into his mic, his droids echoing.

"We ain't leaving! Come out you coward!"

"Fuck off you piece of shite!"

_You asked for it._

Using the force, he picked up the biggest one there.

_Sorry, Zylas was it?_

And slammed him into the wall, headfirst, knocking him out.

"SHIT BOYS IT'S REAL, THE SHADOW IS REAL, RUN FOR IT!!!"

_And just like that, cowardly mercenaries run for it. Always works._

After they abandoned the camp, Cap jumped down, from his perch and went for the captives. As he approached, they all edged further into their cages, terrified. He started walking slower and turned off the voice distortion in his mask.

"Easy. Calm down, I'm here to help." As he approached the center of all the cages he sat down and outstretched his arms, palms outward facing the cages.

He started meditating, concentrating to break all the locks of the cages. After 5 minutes, each lock shattered. Cap relaxed, panting. 

_I'm not that good yet to do that instantaneously. I need more practice._

The captives left their cages, Mirialan, Twi'Leks, Zabraks, Duros, Wookie even, but strangely only one human. They were all children, 15 probably being the eldest. All dirty, tired, probably starving too.

Just then, the human girl and Cap made eye contact suddenly. It was as if she could see through the mask.

"D." She muttered. Perplexed as to why she even said that.

Cap's eyes widened.

_Holy fucking shit._

He felt a cold shudder run through him, like darkness closing in.

_Goddammit, that's an issue for later I guess._

"Quickly, we don't have much time. Are any of you from here, the Duros Sector?" He said standing up, closing his eyes, concentrating on the force to sustain him.

Fortunately, the eldest one, a Twi'lek, raised his hand. 

"Do you know where the Refugee Camp is?"

He nodded.

"Good, here. Take this, and bring everyone there!" He handed him an electric baton. "Go!"

The kids ran.

After a minute or so, a bunch of the mercenaries had returned.

_Okay, 8 men, this should be easy._

"The fucking shadow is a hooded, masked, freak. Who would've thought?"

_Unfortunately, the 2 other big guys are here again._

"Boss called, asked what was happening. Told 'im. He said we only needed the human girl. So give her and we promise not to hurt you."

_Aw fuck me. I gotta deal with these guys quick then find her. They probably dispatched someone else to get her already if she's this valuable to them. Maybe a bounty hunter if we're lucky._

"Sorry about this." Cap said raising his hands in a fighting position.

The men arm their blasters and Cap runs at them. Infused with the force, he moved fast, fast enough to dodge all the blaster fire, getting up close and personal to the big mercenaries.

"HE'S JUST ONE GUY! HOW HARD IS IT TO HIT HIM?!"

He jumped, narrowly dodging the grabs of one of the big thugs as he infused the front of his fist and shin with the force and he knocked them both out, with an explosion of force energy.

The mercenaries stood there for a second, utterly dumbfounded. Until one of them snapped out of it.

"FIRE!"

Cap then started to run towards the other six, still dodging blaster fire.

_Good thing these guys are idiots. I can catch them in the crossfire._

"STOP SHOOTING! STO-" The thug was cut short as the Shadow of Duros Sector darted in and around the mercenaries, making them shoot each other up until there were only two left. Whom he simply force pushed into the nearest wall.

He quickly went off in pursuit of the children. 

_I have to find that girl._ _She can't stay in the camp. I have to bring her to my base. She'll endanger others._

It wasn't long before he caught up. He quickly took the girl's hand and told them all to continue to the camp, the girl had to go with him.

_Fuck, I need a speeder._

They darted into a nearby alley and started inching their way out of the Duros Sector.

"Where are you taking me!?" the girl demanded

"I don't know why, but somebody powerful is looking for you." He looked at her again. "Scratch that, I do know why."

"Why???"

"I'll explain when we're safe. Now be quiet, try not to be seen or heard."

After what seemed like hours, they finally saw an unattended speeder in the distance, parked in the alley up ahead.

"C'mon young one" Cap commanded as they picked up the pace. As they were nearing it-

"HE'S HERE!" shouted a couple of voices up ahead, in the alleyway to their right.

_Oh, you'VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!_

He and the girl came to a complete stop as a hooded figure left the alleyway to their right up ahead and turned left running towards them. The figure was looking back, but saw them just in time to stop. But as he did so, 15 men turned the corner he just came from.

_Hutt mercenaries, FUCK!_

"YOU IDIOTS!" The hooded figure snarled at them before it turned around, and Cap heard a sound he had not heard in awhile. A sound he dreaded hearing.

Red light emerged in front of the hooded figure, and the wind blew his hood back.

The faint glow showing a face he never wanted to see again.

The face of a pureblood sith.

"Kid...step back...." Cap ordered the child

He opened his own cloak and parts started to fly out of his belt, forming a tool he thought he would never use again. As he activated it, the sith heard the sound too, as green light glowed from behind him.

"You're a Jedi sir?" The kid asked him.

"....I was"


	2. Acenair D. Rexath

_ **Sith** _

* * *

_”Mother! No! I don’t wanna go!”_

_”But you have to, Acenair.”_

_”I want to stay with you!”_

_”Go with your father to the Sith Academy, my child. It is your Destiny.”_

_”Nooooo!”_

_”I love you.”_

_\---_

_"I-I wanna go back home"_

_"This is your home now."_

_"Please s-sir, please let me go home."_

_"Enough, whelp. Quit your sniveling. Stand up."_

_\---_

_"Look at him, pathetic, how did he even manage to get into the academy?"_

_"I heard his father was on the council. How ashamed he must be of his son."_

_"I NEVER EVEN WANTED TO BE HERE"  
_

_"AAAAAAGGGGGG-"_

* * *

Acenair was no stranger to hatred, he grew up full of it, surrounded by it. Walking the streets of Nar Shaddaa, he could feel the eyes staring at him as he walked around the streets. Typical. At least they weren't in his way, the denizens of the moon parted as he continued on his path. He had no idea what he was doing there, in the filthy, crime ridden, and dark streets of the Duros Sector. Acenair just felt that he had to be there, something in the force pulled him to this place, but why? He had been there four months now, walking the streets, looking for the reason. It hasn't been easy though, he was constantly looking over his shoulder, for racists, bounty hunters, revenge seekers, or worse, Sith lords. The money he brought with him was beginning to run out, that wasn't too much of a problem though. Money in this place is easy to come by, or at least, people who had some. Nobody in this area would dare challenge a pureblood sith, not if they had anything to lose. So he kept on walking, and walking, and walking, for hours on end. However, there was one thing he was rather cautious of; rumors had been going around of a shadow in the Duros Sector that would take mercenaries or anyone up to no good in the night. He wasn't doing anything criminal per se, but being what he was, he didn't want to take any chances. At this point in his daily traversal of Nar Shaddaa, he was nearing the Corellian Sector. He had never entered this sector in the four months he's lived on the moon. But there was just something different today, he felt something pulling him there. He had to be careful here though, he shouldn't be as open as he was in the previous sector. Here, unwanted attention could really affect him, expensive bodyguards, wealthy racists, mandalorians, and republic representatives were not a good mix. He wandered on, letting the force guide him. After a few hours of slipping around in the shadows, he finally happened upon a local bar, relatively close to the Duros Sector. Remembering the assassin techniques the academy had taught him, he raised his hood and started to hide in plain sight as he entered, manipulating the force to divert the attention of the weaker minds in the room. Moving smoothly to one corner of the room, he sat down at an empty table. After a while, a small group entered the bar. Nobody paid any attention to them, this seemed like nothing special, but he had noticed something quite odd about them. Yes, he'd seen it all before, this is a meet. Standard protocol, they were not dressed in anything special but they were moving in formation, a subtle one, but the pattern was clear. Acenair pulled out a small camera droid and began running their faces through facial recognition. Just as he thought, the one leading the group was a leader of a relatively large gang with ties to the Hutt Cartel on Nar Shaddaa . 

_Oh my Lords._

This guy was true scum. A cyborg charged with kidnapping, rape, murder, slave trafficking, child labor, theft, arson, possession of drugs, drug dealing, if you named a crime, it was probably in his record. Acenair personally was shocked. He had done terrible things himself, but as a a member of the sith race, he still maintained his honor no matter what. This man held no rhyme nor reason to him, all he seemed to care about was money and his own pleasure. Who could a man like this have possibly been meeting in a high end bar? The sith turned his gaze to the other side of the room where the gang leader was headed.

_The VIP Area? What?_

A man in white and gold robes stood up from his table and greeted the leader near the entrance of the VIP Area. The bouncer then guided them both to a table and they sat down starting to talk. Acenair looked down, and closed his eyes, feeling the force, letting it carry their voices toward him.

“What does a man of your stature need with a lil old businessman like me?” The gang leader asked.

”I hear your business has a very _diverse_ variety of products, Brayoct.” 

”That we do, sir.”

_Who the hell was this guy?_

Acenair ran his face through the system. Cartoli Avecan, renowned tech and research investor on Nal Hutta, Coruscant, and Naboo. Known for his aid in medicine and agricultural advances in the recent years his shares in produced patents has apparently made him very wealthy. 

_A supposed philanthropist, speaking to a man like Brayoct? What is he up to?_

"I have a very, hrm, acquired taste. To put it simply."

"What would you like?" 

"What do you have?"

"Different species of meat, from furry ones, to ones with tentacles, if you know what I mean?"

One of Cartoli's bodyguards whispered something in his ear. This seemed to alarm him, Acenair couldn't quite make it out.

"Ah, I'm sorry to skip the pleasantries. I will be blunt here. You've acquired a human girl recently, yes?"

"Yes....how-"

"Be quiet, time is of the essence. I will pay you 500,000 credits if you can deliver her by tonight. 1,000,000 if you can deliver her within the hour."

_What? Slave trading? What's so special about this girl?_

Brayoct's eyes widened at the prices he was given

"I-yes sir!" He scrambled out of his seat gesturing for his men to leave with him

As they left, Cartoli and his bodyguards stood up and started walking towards the back exit of the bar. 

_Knowing slave trade, they probably are contacting their warehouse or storage somewhere. Cartoli is the priority, I need to know more._

Acenair followed Cartoli outside, but to his surprise, the investor was waiting for him. 

"Who are you?" Cartoli asked, his men raising their blasters at him.

"A person...of concern." Acenair replied, keeping his head down to keep the shadows in his face.

"Whatever do you mean? What group are you with? The Hutts? The Republic?"

"Neither. What do you want with the girl?" 

"The girl? What girl?"

"Don't act so foolishly, I know you're smarter than that." Acenair began to walk forward

"Fine, I'll humor you. How did you hear our conversation? You can't have bugged the table or the chairs, I checked. You couldn't have been near enough to eavesdrop either being so..." He inspected Acenair from head to toe "impeccably dressed"

"I cannot see ho-" He smiled. "Oh...you must be a jedi then." He said before bursting into laughter

"I am not." The sith lord snarled.

"Oh please, how else could you have listened to my conversation with Brayoct? You can't have possibly used any technology to listen our conversation and that would also explain your clothing."

"I. am. no. _JEDI."_ Acenair walked forward at a faster rate, his blood starting to boil.

Cartoli's eyes widened, his face showing the clear realization as to who, or rather, what was in front of him. The sith lord could feel the fear rising in the man now, the sweat on Cartoli's brow nearly instantaneously forming as he steadily walked backward. 

"F-fire!" Cartoli turned around to run but it was too late.

Acenair started running, outstretching his hand, feeling the dark side of the force and using it to raise Cartoli and his men into the air.

"P-please don't kill me! I'll tell you anything you want! ANYTHIN-AGH!" Acenair started choking him with the force as he snapped his bodyguard's necks with a powerful explosion of force energy.

The wind blew the sith's hood backward as he moved into the light, which now illuminated the sith's face. As the terrified scientist turned and saw it, Acenair felt the fear rise in him again. How satisfying it was. 

"The girl! Answers now!" 

"We need....children...like her i-in one of my...underground research...l-labs" He choked out

"Research for what? What's so special about this girl?"

"I-I don't...know..."

Acenair tightened his force grip on Cartoli's windpipe, even slightly twisting it in the process.

"a-agh! T-the scientists...told me...they needed f-force...sensitives..."

"Why? How could you even tell she was one? Much less find her?"

"T-they..." Cartoli was cut short as a speeder entered the alleyway, headlights on full blast in the dark alleyway. This blinded Acenair, which in addition to the surprise, was enough to make him drop his hold of the investor. Cartoli started to drag himself across the concrete to get to the speeder, managing to choke out a command before he passed out.

"Kill....him"

The men in the speeder started firing at the sith lord, who fortunately, anticipated this, and force jumped upwards onto a building wall and proceeding to jump off of it to the roof of the bar. 

_Damn it all!!! I won't get another chance to interrogate him, the next best thing is to find the girl. Brayoct shouldn't have gotten far._

As Acenair ran across the roof of the bar, he saw Brayoct and his crew ride off on their speeder bikes. The sith started his pursuit, predicting and anticipating the path the crew was taking and cutting over streets, alleyways, and buildings to keep up with the bikes. After around an hour, he finally overtook them and jumped down to the street, directly in their path. He outstretched his hand and erected a force shield in front of him. The crew crashed into it, sending them off their bikes and into the road, some died on impact, others when they hit the road, a few survived with critical injuries, but unfortunately for Brayoct, he survived because Acenair caught him. 

"Where are you keeping the girl?" Acenair dropped his hood. Brayoct's eyes widened upon seeing his face, his one organic eye teared up. The sith lord grimaced, disgusted by the gang leader's behavior.

"THE DUROS SECTOR!!! A CLICK OR SO NORTH OF THE REFUGEE CENTER JUST-JUST DON'T KILL ME!" 

_Coward. Only cowards give up this easily. This man truly held no honor. Not even for himself. Cartoli held more in him than this pathetic sack of rancor feces._

Acenair's blood boiled, he ignited his lightsaber.

"NO PLEASE NO! WHAT DO YOU WANT?! IS IT THE MONEY?! I CAN GIVE YOU THE MONEY!!" Brayoct begged as the sith lowered him

"Men like you hold no place in this galaxy, much less in the force!" He snarled as he raised his blade up to Brayoct's neck

"HOW ABOUT GIRLS? I CAN GIVE YOU THAT! ANYTHING!!! I'LL GI-" and with that, Acenair decapitated the man and his lifeless body dropped to the floor like sandbags as his head rolled away.

Acenair could hear the whirring and clicking of Brayoct's cybernetics shutting down as he walked away in the direction of the Duros Sector, content with the information he had received and the lives he had just disposed of. Though suddenly, he saw a faint blue glow from behind. The sith lord turned around, igniting his saber, preparing his guard. Though what greeted him was far worse than a group of mercenaries or even mandalorian bounty hunters. Brayoct's eye projected a hologram of Acenair's bust, with the numbers 1,000,000 above his head. The decapitated gang leader had gotten the last laugh after all. Acenair screamed as he smashed the head with his boot. 

_DAMN IT!!!! DAMN IT!!! DAMN IT!! DAMN IT!_

"RAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH" He screamed at the sky before he took one the speeders and rode off.

It was roughly a 30 minute ride from that point to the entrance of the Duros Sector. It wasn't going to be long before bounty hunters start coming after him, 1,000,000 credits was a high number in this part of the Galaxy. It warranted the likes of low-rank Mandalorians or Bounty Droids, the better ones arriving within the next few hours. That was not the real concern though, Acenair had fought mandalorians before, in his time serving in the War, they were manageable. He was more concerned about the Sith Empire coming after him. They did not take lightly to deserters, it would be a day or two before a squad of Inquisitors arrived on the planet. Fortunately, he did not warrant the need for an actual Sith Lord to come for him...yet. Nearing the Duros Sector, a gang of 8 bikers started chasing after him as he passed an intersection. After a couple more blocks, 9 more joined the chase. Soon enough, they started firing at him. Acenair began weaving through the streets of the Duros Sector, trying to avoid blaster fire and shake them off his tail, but more and more just kept coming. 

_At this rate you will lose track of the girl you gungan-head, think!_

**"Acenair, contrary to the nature of the dark side of the force, sometimes the best solution is simply, to calm down and let it guide you."**

The sith lord closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and let go of the handlebars, allowing the bike to move freely as his body shifted momentum right and left making the blaster fire missing him entirely. He grabbed the handlebars of the bike once more, and pulled a hard right. After a few seconds, he was thrown of his bike as it crashed, sending him flying forward. But he remained calm, and outstretched his hand, using the force to crush something front of him. He then spun vertically, then horizontally, finally landing on his feet. He opened his eyes and turned around. He looked in amazement, he had turned right into a narrowing alleyway, lined with fire escapes and pipeage as it closed. He continued to watch as the bikers chasing him crashed the same way he did, but only this time, the impact either killed or injured them, or they flew into fire escapes or piping. He estimated around 24 casualties total so far, but more speeders and bikes stopped at the entrance of the alleyway. Mercenaries, Bounty Hunters, and Hutt Cartel hires alike, disembarked and started running towards him. So Acenair ran, and ran, and ran. Every so often turning around using the force to push some back or throw his lightsaber to get rid of some, their continuous blaster fire didn't help either. He finally came upon an alleyway, with two opposite fire escapes above him, looking behind he saw he had a sizeable lead. He turned around and with one explosive show of force, collapsed both fire escapes, blocking the alleyway. Unfortunately, doing so allowed some blaster fire to graze his shoulder and thigh. He didn't have time nor the luxury to feel the pain, so he pushed on and kept on running. Collapsing the fire escapes bought him some time to lose them for awhile and catch his breath, so he jumped up and got his bearings. The Refugee Sector was still quite a distance away, the chase made him stray a little further from his original path. He trudged on, but was forced to start running away again as he started to hear footsteps and was forced to stray further from his destination. An hour or so passed and the calm he had earlier turned into rage, there was a high probability the girl had been taken already, he was hurt, and he was getting exhausted. To his dismay, one of the groups finally found him as he turned a corner.

_You idiot! You should have predicted they would've split up! Now you're going to have to pay the price!_

"HE'S HERE!" One of the members of the group shouts

Acenair sends out a force push and runs in the opposite direction, soon taking a left. He looked back as the group of mercenaries followed him, looking back in front of him just in time to stop before colliding into a man holding a little girl's hand. In the darkness, all the sith lord could make out was that the little girl was terrified, but he didn't care, he couldn't die here, not now.

"YOU IDIOTS!" He snarled as he turned around, pulling out his lightsaber, igniting it. The red glow illuminating his face as the wind pulled his hood back.

The little girl behind him gasped.

"Kid, get behind me." The man behind him said, his voice was distorted, being filtered somehow.

The sound of a saberstaff igniting behind Acenair made his eyes widen as green light started to glow behind him, the mercenaries stopped dead in their tracks as they too were stunned as to what they were seeing.

"You're a jedi sir?" the child asked the man

"....I was" he replied

_Could this be it? Is this the girl? I feel a slight presence of the force inside her...but there's no time for that right now, I focus on the matter at hand._

The sith lord jumped at the mercenaries, screaming, swinging his lightsaber at one, but before it could land, the ex-Jedi's blade stopped his dead in its tracks.

"What are y-?" The sith was cut short as the man in front of him raised his hand and swung it down, making all the mercenaries in front of him collapse.

"Nobody here has to die tonight. Not in front of the girl" He said as he clipped his saber behind him, deactivating it. "Now come on, we have to move if we wanna survive."

The man picked up the little girl and he gestured for the sith lord to come with him as he started running.

"There's a speeder up ahead, see it?" The man asked

"I'm not blind, Jedi"

"Do NOT call me that, do you know how to drive it?"

The sith lord jumped into the drivers seat and used the force to turn the ignition of the speeder on.

"I'm going to assume that's a yes" The man said as he entered shotgun, putting the girl in the backseat, using the force to clip her seatbelt on. "Hit it! Go to the Corellia Sector, I have a safehouse there!"

"The Corellia Sector? It's LIKE you have a death wish!" The Sith looked at him dumbfoundedly

"Do you have any better ideas?!?!?" 

The sith growled. He couldn't argue with that, anywhere is better than where they were at the moment. 

"I hope you know what you're doing." Acenair reluctantly sighed as he started driving, heading towards the Corellia Sector.

"I sure hope I do." The man said, removing his mask.

Acenair looked at him, the lights of the street showing the sith what he actually looked like. He had a big build, even back there in the dark, he could tell that the man was taller than he was. He was wearing what looked like heavily modified Jedi Consular armor. The pieces outfitted with various panels that he could not make out what they did. On his waist, he wore several belts covered in various pouches of different sizes, most had scrap parts sticking out of them, he could even see one pouch literally just held a battery pack. Acenair inspected the weapon clipped behind him. It didn't look like any Jedi saber he'd ever seen, at least not anymore. It had various different parts integrated into it, like it had been modified to be quickly put apart and back together, he could still see the original hilt though, without its parts cut out, it originally had an etched design, a beautiful one at that. The man himself was young, probably around his own age. He had white hair, and silver eyes. He had chiseled features and a square jaw. He looked charismatic in general, but the sith lord could clearly see the exhaustion in his eyes. The girl he was with couldn't be older than 8 years old, he thought, looking at the rear-view mirror at the child. She was your standard human child except for the fact she had wavy white hair. She sat at the back, looking at the two in front of her, and strangely, the sith felt no fear from her. He looked back at the ex-Jedi beside him.

"Why did you help me?" he asked

"You looked like you needed it." he nonchalantly replied

"Is that it? You _KNOW_ what I am."

"Any sith, dressed like you, on this moon, alone, isn't part of the Empire." the man sighed

"I _could_ be an assassin."

"True, but you didn't attack me first when you found out I was a trained force user. All the sith I've ever faced have put me or any Jedi in the vicinity as the priority, instead, you attack the mercenaries."

"Who you saved, by the way. You know they WILL come after me again." The sith growled

"What makes you say that?" The man was confused now. "You're a trained sith, I can't imagine any reason why any of those low-lifes would dare try to attack you."

"I can think of 1,000,000 reasons."

The ex-Jedi started laughing. "Now how did you manage that?"

"I killed Brayoct"

"Excuse me, _what?_ as in Cyborg Brayoct? as in one organic eye? as in always in public Brayoct? as in large territorial gang leader Brayoct?"

"I only know of _ONE_ Brayoct. I think he programmed his eye to capture whoever kills him and set a 1,000,000 credit bounty on them, petty piece of rancor shit. Do you know he nearly cried as I was about to kill him?"

The man blinked, and looked back at the kid, who fortunately, was tending to her own devices at the back.

"There's a _CHILD_ present"

"I was a child when they took me, what difference does it make? I'm willing to bet you were too."

"Exactly why we _have_ to maintain her right to choose."

The sith looked disgruntled, the man was right.

"My apologies, I will be more... _delicate_...with my phrasing while the child is present"

"Nonetheless, you have my thanks. I've been trying to get rid of him for years, his gang territory was getting too close to the Refugee Sector. But I could never find the perfect moment to get rid of him without getting caught, he was always sticking around in the brighter and more public areas, it was frustrating."

It was at that point Acenair realized who he was talking to, his eyes widened, everything making sense now. Nobody but a force user could have been able to protect a camp of that size for years from bounty hunters, mercenaries, and even Sith Inquisitors.

"You...You're the Shadow of the Duros Sector?"

"The one and only." The man smiled smugly.

"Even after leaving the order, you still stick to their ideals? How pathetic." The sith rolled his eyes

"I'd like to think that they did some things right. I mean, I believe your ex-faction, had some good points too."

"Nobody is absolutely correct" Acenair nodded in agreement

The man sighed, shaking his head.

"Let me be the first one to introduce myself, D. Captain, a pleasure to be your acquaintance"

"The Captain? Who names themselves after a rank?" The sith smirked mockingly

"I did, now, does this sith have a name or will I just have to call you Red now?" 

"Acenair D. Rexath, do not call me Red, that is...derogatory to say the least" If he had to put up with a cocky ex-Jedi, the least he could do was call him by his proper name.

"But...you are actually red."

"Just _don't_ " 

Cap laughed

"Acenair is kinda hard to say-"

"For you?" The sith chuckled.

"- Wow, a sith lord with a sense of humor? I'm impressed" The ex-Jedi laughed

"We're not _ALL_ monsters, I....am not... _usually_ one, anyway" 

"Hm, so it seems...." Cap said, inspecting the sith lord from head to toe, and after a long silence finally said "As I was saying...for the kid's sake I'll just call you Ace."

The sith lord just grunted in response. 

"Where'd you find her anyway?" He asked.

"I freed a slave storage space awhile ago, she was one of the captives."

Acenair's eyes widened, and he hit full throttle on the gas, realizing that this is it, this is the reason he was called here.

"Whoa! Slow down! You're gonna scare the kid!" Cap exclaimed, holding on to the railing of the speeder.

Ace looked at the rear-view mirror. The kid was smiling, looking around, laughing as the wind blew in her face.

"She looks fine to me....Captain, I have a question." 

"What is it?" He replied, looking at the kid in the back, giving her a toy from his belt.

"Is she force sensitive?"

"Without a doubt." He nodded, still watching the girl as she played with it. The sith lord could see the toy lighting up different colors, red, blue, yellow, green. The shadow's brow furrowed as turned back forward in his seat. "To what extent? I cannot tell. But she has...potential...I'm sure you could sense that too." 

"Indeed. Did you feel the force calling out to you, as well? To go here?"

"I did...six years ago..." The ex-Jedi now had a very serious face on him.

"I was called here four months ago, Captain." Ace looked at the child in the backseat. "This is it, this is the reason."

"You may be right Ace" Cap was now looking at her as well, an aura of calculation coming of of him "you _just_ may be..." He closed his eyes

"You seem like you can be trusted....after all I do sense _conflict_ inside you." He said as he opened his eyes.

"Don't pretend like you know me, _Jedi._ And last I checked, I did _NOT_ give you permission to search my feelings." the sith lord snarled

"My apologies. Tell me what you know about the child. I'm sure you have your reasons for suspecting that this is the reason the force brought us here." 

Acenair recounted the events of that night to the Shadow, who simply nodded.

"I see...We shall plan what we do once we're at the safehouse. Speaking of which, we're nearing the building. Pull up and ascend then-" Cap stopped talking suddenly, a sudden realization forming in his mind. "....say...whatever happened to the people following you?" Cap asked, his eyes wide with concern.

"You...bring up a very good point. I honestly do not know." Ace replied, his brows furrowing 

"I have a bad feeling about this." Cap said as they reached the top floor of the building where the shadow's base of operations resided.

"I, as well." The sith replied as they both pulled out their lightsabers.

They disembarked the speeder and put it on autopilot, getting rid of the evidence. As they entered Cap's HQ they saw a trail of blood leading into then next room, Acenair and Cap ignited their lightsabers and continued to walk.

"Kid, stay here." Cap ordered.

As they entered the next room of the HQ, they saw several bodies of the mercenaries Cap and Ace had taken care of earlier, now cold corpses on the ground.

"Oh my Lords" The sith breathed out.

"Why? Not to mention, how did they know to go here? How did they even die?" D. Captain was bewildered, crouching down to inspect the bodies. The sith followed his lead. The blood came from beatings and cuts, but they had died of blaster fire, some had lacerations in a spiral manner around their bodies, there were some burns too. Their pseudo-autopsy was cut short when they both heard the child scream in the room behind them. They ran back to her and found her in the arms of an armored figure in the dark. 

"Captain, Ace, help me...please!" The girl cried as she struggled.

The figure moved forward into the room, the light showing them who it was.

 _A Mandalorian Bounty Hunter. Splendid._

"Hello boys....Let's talk." A female voice said from inside the helmet. The Bounty Hunter aimed her blaster towards the kid.


End file.
